Books Galore! No Reviews, Just A Plug!

One or two people, even on my side of the big issues, have observed that I go over-the-top when certain persons are mentioned….

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.Justin Pretty Boy

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…but that’s okay.

Today, I came across an American who outdoes even me in extravagant imagery, and I urge you to read his article/diatribe about Romney The Rino!

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The author’s name’s Kurt Schlichter, BTW.

https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2022/02/21/now-the-dems-and-gop-traitors-want-to-steal-utah-for-schumer

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But I note the Townhall.com Man is also a writer of books, so I add a word or two about his latest…

My Kelly Turnbull conservative action thriller series shows what happens if America splits into red and blue countries after going down the kind of path our real-life ruling class has chosen.

The sixth, The Split, is now out, but get all these action-packed bestsellers, including People’s Republic, Indian Country, Wildfire, Collapse, and Crisis!

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…which I’d like to get hold of.

Could Be A Good Read?

A lot of people are going away on summer holidays, or already gone.

If you want a good book to read, this could be what you need!

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Gosh! Good Sense In The Guardian?

How many times have I said how bad the Guardian is?

Even I’ve lost count!

But this month, one ray of sanity penetrated the pinko drivel with which the commissars, sorry editors, generally drape their publication.

….after years of struggle, a working-class British woman, aged just 21, was awarded the highest honour her profession can bestow, live, in front of 20,000 people and a television audience of millions.

The Guardian didn’t report it.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/mar/01/spandex-snobbery-liberal-elite-wrestling-working-class

But at least they afforded somebody who suggests their newspaper is a bastion of elite liberal snobbery a fair bit of space to present his case.

‘Serotonin’ – A New Must-Read by Houellebecq?

His last novel, Submission, which envisioned a France subjected to sharia law after electing a Muslim president in 2022…

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…was published on 7 January 2015 and featured on the cover of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo just before terrorists stormed the offices of the publication and shot dead 12 people.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jan/04/vanquished-white-male-houellebecqs-new-novel-eerily-predicts-french-discontent

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This guy’s new book could be well-worth reading.

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It’s called ‘Serotonin,’ but I’ll need to wait for a translation – my conversational Indonesian is not bad, my conversational German is passable and my Latin and Ancient Greek probably as good as when I left high school…

…but my French is almost non-existent.

But the Guardian review makes it sound interesting, and the author, who says Trump is “one of the best American presidents I’ve ever seen”, and praised Brexit, may look a bit scary but is obviously nobody’s fool.

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Michel Houellebecq: ‘Am I Islamophobic? Probably, yes’

‘Make Me’ – Fiction That Grips And Makes You Shudder!

If you have a spot of late Christmas shopping to do, for people who like fiction…

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No, I won’t recommend the mainstream media! I offer a gripping yarn, not fake news propaganda!

Nor is what I’ve been reading any kind of political fantasy.

Take a festive break from politics, though if you are a Brit, not too long. Brexit needs you.

But do look for the book I’m writing about.

It’s another of Lee Childs’ very well-written ‘Jack Reacher’ stories, and since several of them have been turned into good action movies, who knows – ‘Make Me’ might someday soon be on view in our cinemas.

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I picked it up for four dollars in the second-hand bookstore in Pasar Fest, so it’s not exactly a new release.

But for much of a week it saw me through numerous long TransJakarta bus journeys.

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It’s fair to say that I’m a hardened reader of thrillers, horrors and action/adventure fiction, and nothing much shocks me.

But the sheer evil revealed as the villains’ purpose, when the book reaches its final pages, gave me a physical shudder.

So not for the faint-hearted.

Read this book before you give it as a gift!

‘The Emotional Levers That Led To The Brexit Vote…!’

How’s this for a ripping yarn?

The book moves between privileged middle classes and migrant workers on zero-hours contracts in a pie factory. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jan/09/vanguard-of-brexit-fiction-set-to-appear-in-2017-mark-billingham

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The novel highlights the emotional levers that led to the Brexit vote.  

Bound to be a page-turner, yeah?

Not only ‘a pie factory’ but elements of chilling horror – a metropolitan couple forced to downsize to Devon because they cannot afford to divorce.

Aaaargh!

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I read a lot, either out front on Jakarta’s sunny mornings, or, almost as much, on my frequent bus journeys around the city.

Since Lotte Mart (a hypermarket chain here, with branches all over town) started selling imported paperbacks at excellent discount prices ( Rp.30 -45,000 – that’s between three and five dollars), I’ve mined that source many times.

My last foray into their branch in posh Kuningan ended with me taking home no less than four books, including a genuinely rivetting detective story by Scotland’s Ian Rankin about high-level corruption by the big business/political elite…

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…and three more.

Today, unusually, I have nothing to do and all day to do it, so I am hoping the sun comes out soon, so I can resume my relentless quest for an impressive tan to show off when I go abroad next month.

I’ve finished the Rankin book and moved onto another.

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• A brief outing to find the tukang gado2 is also on my agenda. gado-gado-indonesian-vegetable-salad-with-peanut-dressing – Saveur

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• Anything,  I confess, to get away from the TV, where CNN is currently blatting out the imminent joys of Obummer’s farewell – which is being touted as akin to The Sermon On The Mount.

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• But that Guardian article has me smiling through my third kopi hitam.

• The other ‘Brexit fiction‘ reviewed – the phrase truly evokes Cast-Iron Cameron’s Project Fear…

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…might be more fun, or at least funnier…

It’s about a ‘populist power grab!‘

Douglas Board’s political thriller Time of Lies.

Wot, MORE about the Remain campaign? No…

Set against the 2020 general election, a monstrous rightwing demagogue with a hardcore following of violent young thugs stages an anti-elite coup to win.

Duh, that would be…who?

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Not bloody likely!

 

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Pondok Indah Mall, Books on Sale! Till 26th June?

Got back from an outing to PIM not long ago, and have to report that Periplus book store has some bargains this week and next.

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PIM -Pondok Indah Mall

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In fact the shop assistant who served me said the discounts would last till 26th June!

I got two paperbacks, one being Stephen King’s ‘Dome’ which was originally priced at over Rp.100,000, and another, by a lesser known author, again marked above Rp.100k.

There were stickers attached telling would-be buyers they were now Rp.41,000 and Rp.38,000 respectively.

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• A good buy, by anyone’s standards!
• But when I took them over to the cashier, I was delighted to learn that the sale meant ANOTHER 50% reduction, so I only had to pay the princely sum of Rp.40,000 for the two of them!

So get yourselves on down there to Periplus, while it lasts. 

‘Last Post: End Of Empire In The Far East’ – by John Keay

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An island vacation is no use without a book and I read three in that Bali week!

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Keay can’t be described as a big fan of  the British Empire, which did so much good wherever its bounds were set over palm and pine,  nor of the other Western colonial endeavours.

But he is easy to read, gives much detail (not least on the Battle of Surabaya) and has a plethora of anecdotes – I particularly enjoyed his brief account of one old Shanghai flesh-pot!

I’d only quarrel (very mildly) with the title.

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Given Red China’s grotesque imperialism in Tibet, it can hardly be said there has been any true end to empire in the Far East.  And he could have said a lot more about the cruel joke called the ‘Act of Free Choice’ in Papua, a terrible testament to the evil hypocrisy which is the United Nations.

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But he quickly defines his sphere of interest and if you have a long delay in the airport plus a few hours in the air, you’ll make short work of his compact history of decolonisation.